Letters in the editor’s mailbag

Saturday

Jun 10, 2017 at 12:01 AM

Obstacles in water add to danger

Every year about this time we start reading tragic stories of people drowning in our beautiful rivers — sometimes due to irresponsibility, ignorance or simply an unfortunate accident. Those of us who enjoy the rivers see many cases of swimmers, tubers and boaters without minimum safety gear such as life preservers, paddles or even a whistle.

However, we also see dangerous obstacles that conspire to create problems. The most notorious of these are the low-head weirs and riprap rocks that block the Willamette River just upstream of the Interstate 5 bridge.

Springfield and Eugene have a responsibility to work with state and federal agencies to mitigate some of these man-made hazards to public safety. Removal of the jagged riprap rocks blocking the north side of the river would be a huge improvement and relatively inexpensive.

Removal also would be a step toward restoring a more natural river. I hope no one in city government loses a loved one in the river, but public safety is a fundamental civic responsibility.

Mark Murphy

Creswell

Dems need to support single-payer

It’s being reported that the Republicans hope to vote on their revised American Health Care Act before the end of the month through “reconciliation,” a way to pass the bill with no Democratic votes.

Almost 60 percent of the Democratic members of the House have endorsed HR 676, John Conyers’ Medicare for All bill. Supporters of single-payer health care have let their voices be heard loudly at town halls and other meetings with their representatives. A single-payer bill has passed the California Senate. Three in five Americans believe the government has a responsibility to ensure everyone has health care.

But the Democratic leadership is just sitting back, hoping that the Republicans can shoot themselves in the foot.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, while claiming “I was carrying single-payer signs probably around before you were born,” does not want the party to support single-payer in 2018. It’s time she realized that the only way forward for the Democratic Party is to support progressive ideas — like single-payer health care.

Jo Alexander

Corvallis

Learn how to help the homeless

It was heartening to read the front-page article about the overwhelming response to Aundrea Braniff’s call to the community to donate new or gently-used luggage for people who are homeless (“Bags of generosity,” June 2).

The problem of homelessness seems almost too big to be solved, and often we wonder what we can do. Giving money to people who stand with signs on street corners somehow doesn’t seem to be the answer. Yet when a concrete, basic need is made known, people in our community step us and respond generously.

I’m a member of the board of SquareOne Villages, a nonprofit organization formed in 2013 to develop innovative solutions to the problems of homelessness and lack of truly affordable housing for people with very low incomes. We built Opportunity Village Eugene (OVE), 111 N. Garfield St., on land donated to us by the city of Eugene.

OVE provides concrete, basic support for 34 people who otherwise would be homeless.

If you’ve ever wondered what you can do to help people who are homeless, come to our Third Anniversary Open House from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at OVE. Meet our residents, tour one of the houses, and see how you can plug in and be part of this innovative solution.

Susan Schroeder

Eugene

Planet reaching the tipping point

If we can all find a way to increase the standard of living for the masses — in other words, put the assets of the gifts of Earth into the hands of many as opposed to the hands of a few — we might begin to see a change in the global anger that is being perpetuated by a different few with the subtle endorsement of the many.

If we don’t actively deal with this “global anger” it could mean the end of our society and Earth as we know them. Right now requires that we all get together on the issue of global warming, and if we don’t the potential consequences could be catastrophic.

Many scientists and sociologists are talking about a “tipping point” — that means our actions right now as a global society are extremely critical.

What are we going to do to save Mother Earth? The time for denial is quickly passing, and our window of opportunity for real change may be quickly closing in on us. Major players in the global power structure, such as President Donald Trump, are standing in the way of creative solutions that we now desperately need.

For the sake of our planet, Trump needs to be impeached. We need a world leader, not a narcissist who is systematically destroying our reputation as a rational sensitive leader, which Barack Obama so clearly provided for eight years.

Dwight A. Janssen

Eugene

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